Volume 6 Winter 08

Written by Jessica Zoiti

Generation Wine

Second generation winemaking is about more than earning a buck. It’s about passion, integrity and the passing of valuable knowledge from father to son, and in some cases, daughter. This talented group of wine industry young guns is keeping business in the family. 

They grew up surrounded by vines, plump with some of the best grapes in Western Australia. Their fathers were among the state’s most respected and important wine industry pioneers. And yet, for this group of second-generation winemakers, taking the reigns of the family business was never a guarantee.

One wanted to be a rock star, while another spent the first half of his working career as geologist, and others were on their way to becoming one of thousands of inner city number crunchers. However when push came to shove the call of the vineyard was just too strong. Driven by a desire to create interesting wines with finesse, rather than just a pretty price tag, these industry heirs and heiresses were wooed back into the family winery, providing a love of the industry must surely be in the blood.

 “The best is yet to come. The best wine we’ll make will probably be 20 years down the track, although we’ve been doing this for 30 something years now, so we’re doing something right,” Dr Bill Pannell

The Pannell Family

PICARDY WINES

When asked what inspired him to enter the wine industry, Dr Bill Pannell, Moss Wood founder and Margaret River wine region pioneer, sheepishly admits it was another bottle of wine.

“I hate to admit that it was a bottle of ’62 Grange,” he says. “My wife and I drank it on our wedding anniversary at the Parmelia Hotel and it was a very fine wine. It tweaked my interest, so I started looking for wines that I liked and spent a year in Victoria where I visited a lot of small wineries and talked to a lot of people running them over there.”

One of these people was Dr Max Lake who at the time, owned lakes Folly winery in the Hunter Valley. Max convinced Bill that it was possible to successfully establish a small vineyard and winery, leading the adventurous doctor to purchase land in Margaret River where he established Moss Wood in 1968.

Bill enjoyed great success at Moss Wood, particularly with cabernet sauvignon, and in 1985, sold the business to current owner, Keith Mugford. Involvements in Burgundy winery Domaine de la Pousse d’Or and Smithbrook ensued before Bill and his wife Sandra eventually established Picardy in Pemberton in 1993.

Meanwhile, a number of Bill’s own children were testing the wine industry waters. Eldest son Stephen became chief red winemaker at Hardy’s, won a Jimmy Watson Trophy and now runs his own operation and is a wine consultant in South Australia. Daughter Emma is married to a winemaker and second eldest son Dan completed a bachelor of science (Oenology) at Roseworthy in 1993 and now runs the Picardy winery with his father, mother and wife Jodie. Youngest son Nicholas is the only Pannell sibling not to go into the industry-yet.

According to Dan, winemaking wasn’t the business he thought he’d end up in. “As kids, none of us saw ourselves going into the business. I studied business management originally. I was destined to become an accountant, but there was no way that was going to happen-I was doing way too much surfing, windsurfing, sailing and water skiing.”

“So I did a lot of travel and was involved in the marketing, wholesale and retail side of the business for quite a while. I also managed pubs and bottle shops as I travelled around and in hindsight, it was good to see “the dark side” I suppose. After all that I went to study and then spend time at Rosabrook (winery in Margaret River),” says Dan.

Bill has retired from medicine and spends much of his time working at Picardy, which today is widely considered one of Australia’s leading boutique producers of wine. Both Bill and Dan have a passion for pinot – a variety with which they’ve received considerable acclaim.

“We’re mainly pinot focussed,” adds Dan. “I also love cool climate shiraz, particularly the Coite-Rotie and the blends they use in their lovely, softer style shiraz. If we had the money and the time again, we’d probably do only pinot.”

Picardy’s vines are still young and both Dan and Bill agree that while this year’s vintage is pretty stunning, great pinot really needs vine age.

“The best in yet to come. The best wine we’ make will probably be 20 years down the track, although we’ve been doing this for 30 something years now, so we’re doing something right,” says Bill.